Re: Appropriate Preschool Setting for Apraxic Child

March 19, 2009

Where are you land? I am in land.

Noelle

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 19, 2009, at 9:03 AM, " smithfitz99 " <smithfitz99@...>

wrote:

> We are new to the board and have a son who will be 3 in April

> recently diagnosed with Verbal/Oral Apraxia. He also presents with

> overall fine motor planning issues and demonstrates some sensory

> seeking behaviors. His cognitive skills are average. We are in the

> midst of his IEP meetings and are looking for information on

> appropriate preschool settings for. We feel confident that we are

> able to support our requests for his speech therapy (3x weekly) and

> OT (1x weekly) to include summer session, but have not been able to

> find much information on appropriate preschool. From what I can

> gather from families who share their stories many children are

> attending preschool programs through their public school system that

> include children with IEP's and their typically developing peers,

> while some have found private preschool providing speech services.

> Does anyone have any thoughts on this? We have not yet formalized

> our son's IEP services, but it has been suggested that he will be

> offered speech and OT at our local public school and the assistance

> of an itinerant special education teacher to visit him in a private

> preschool program. The suggestion has been that our land county

> only has 4 mixed (IEP/typically dev.) classrooms (no summer

> sessions) and that our son will not qualify. My concern is twofold,

> how to find the time to deliver the intensive therapy he requires if

> not in this setting? How do you manage a child's schedule to include

> naps, preschool and therapy? As separate entities he will have

> little time to play and do regular kid stuff! My other concern is

> how a child with almost no functional speech will do without special

> education support in a 3 year old classroom full of talkers.

> Granted, we have just begun aggressive public and private speech and

> he will not attend preschool until the fall, so his abilities may

> improve, but the IEP planning must happen now. We don't have any

> specialty private preschool options for speech in our land area.

> As a fallback position, I have secured a private preschool for the

> fall which includes a small class size and a willingness to work

> with our son and the itinerant teacher, they don't however have any

> special education experience. We'd appreciate any experience or

> thoughts you have on either preschool route. Additionally any

> information or resources that would support our efforts to lobby the

> county for the inclusive preschool program would be helpful.

> Thanks this board has been a lifesaver!

>

March 20, 2009

Our son is apraxic and is 5 1/2 years old. We have put him a normal classroom

setting at a local private preschool. We felt that it was extremely important

for him to be around " normal " kids his age so he would have that positive peer

pressure. At this age, all the kids are very accepting and oddly enough,

understands him better than adults. He is only in their half-day program because

I pick him up 3 days a week early to go to speech. As far as the naps go you

were speaking of, he usually still gets them, they are just a little later in

the day. Overall, I think being in a classroom setting has been one of the best

things we could have done for our son. He is very shy because of his speech

delay, but has started to come out a lot more since starting school. It may take

a few weeks to adjust, but it's worth it! I hope this helped!

Jen

>

> > We are new to the board and have a son who will be 3 in April

> > recently diagnosed with Verbal/Oral Apraxia. He also presents with

> > overall fine motor planning issues and demonstrates some sensory

> > seeking behaviors. His cognitive skills are average. We are in the

> > midst of his IEP meetings and are looking for information on

> > appropriate preschool settings for. We feel confident that we are

> > able to support our requests for his speech therapy (3x weekly) and

> > OT (1x weekly) to include summer session, but have not been able to

> > find much information on appropriate preschool. From what I can

> > gather from families who share their stories many children are

> > attending preschool programs through their public school system that

> > include children with IEP's and their typically developing peers,

> > while some have found private preschool providing speech services.

> > Does anyone have any thoughts on this? We have not yet formalized

> > our son's IEP services, but it has been suggested that he will be

> > offered speech and OT at our local public school and the assistance

> > of an itinerant special education teacher to visit him in a private

> > preschool program. The suggestion has been that our land county

> > only has 4 mixed (IEP/typically dev.) classrooms (no summer

> > sessions) and that our son will not qualify. My concern is twofold,

> > how to find the time to deliver the intensive therapy he requires if

> > not in this setting? How do you manage a child's schedule to include

> > naps, preschool and therapy? As separate entities he will have

> > little time to play and do regular kid stuff! My other concern is

> > how a child with almost no functional speech will do without special

> > education support in a 3 year old classroom full of talkers.

> > Granted, we have just begun aggressive public and private speech and

> > he will not attend preschool until the fall, so his abilities may

> > improve, but the IEP planning must happen now. We don't have any

> > specialty private preschool options for speech in our land area.

> > As a fallback position, I have secured a private preschool for the

> > fall which includes a small class size and a willingness to work

> > with our son and the itinerant teacher, they don't however have any

> > special education experience. We'd appreciate any experience or

> > thoughts you have on either preschool route. Additionally any

> > information or resources that would support our efforts to lobby the

> > county for the inclusive preschool program would be helpful.

> > Thanks this board has been a lifesaver!

> >

>

March 20, 2009

I am very anxious to see peoples response to your request...we are in the exact

same boat as you are. My son turns 3 on April 6th. We just finished all of the

district assessments and our 1st IEP is this Wednesday (March 25). I have him in

a private preschool right now and am wondering if we should put him in the

districts Special Day Class (Special Ed program) or fight to have the district

pay for his private preschool and just take him to his ST,OT and PT offered by

the school district.

We also just changed our insurance to a PPO, so hopefully we can get some

additional services (if needed) through our insurance.

Cognitively our son tests pretty much at age level, but he has severe verbal

apraxia (6 month old level), dyspraxia (fine and gross motor planning issues),

Sensory Processing Disorder and hypotonia.

His private preschool teacher says he does fantastic in class, participates and

is a joy to have. He interacts with the other kids and lets his needs be known

by pointing and gesturing. We also just put together a travel PECS book to take

to school.

I feel so conflicted!

Jenna Weil

>

> We are new to the board and have a son who will be 3 in April recently

diagnosed with Verbal/Oral Apraxia. He also presents with overall fine motor

planning issues and demonstrates some sensory seeking behaviors. His cognitive

skills are average. We are in the midst of his IEP meetings and are looking for

information on appropriate preschool settings for. We feel confident that we are

able to support our requests for his speech therapy (3x weekly) and OT (1x

weekly) to include summer session, but have not been able to find much

information on appropriate preschool. From what I can gather from families who

share their stories many children are attending preschool programs through their

public school system that include children with IEP's and their typically

developing peers, while some have found private preschool providing speech

services. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? We have not yet formalized

our son's IEP services, but it has been suggested that he will be offered speech

and OT at our local public school and the assistance of an itinerant special

education teacher to visit him in a private preschool program. The suggestion

has been that our land county only has 4 mixed (IEP/typically dev.)

classrooms (no summer sessions) and that our son will not qualify. My concern

is twofold, how to find the time to deliver the intensive therapy he requires if

not in this setting? How do you manage a child's schedule to include naps,

preschool and therapy? As separate entities he will have little time to play

and do regular kid stuff! My other concern is how a child with almost no

functional speech will do without special education support in a 3 year old

classroom full of talkers. Granted, we have just begun aggressive public and

private speech and he will not attend preschool until the fall, so his abilities

may improve, but the IEP planning must happen now. We don't have any specialty

private preschool options for speech in our land area. As a fallback

position, I have secured a private preschool for the fall which includes a small

class size and a willingness to work with our son and the itinerant teacher,

they don't however have any special education experience. We'd appreciate any

experience or thoughts you have on either preschool route. Additionally any

information or resources that would support our efforts to lobby the county for

the inclusive preschool program would be helpful.

> Thanks this board has been a lifesaver!

>

March 20, 2009

Why is it suggested that your child won't qualify for the mixed classroom? My

daughter is in this preschool 3 full day setting with pull out ST and OT and

thriving. The schedule even includes a daily rest time for all the kids and she

naps then if she needs to. Having typical children to model has been extremely

beneficial. We also have ESY through this. But even if you can't get that, you

may be able to secure funding for private ST over the summer.

Good luck.

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March 24, 2009

New Here.......My son is also 3, he has been going to a private pre-k since

August of last year, he has done wonderful there. The teachers are aware of his

speech delay and today I just had it confirmed it was Apraxia of speech. I

noticed the delay at 18 months, he had ear tests, then ear tubes due to fluid,

then had him enrolled him in the " babies can't wait and early intervention " He

has been seeing a speech pathologist ever since.. Today (the specialist and

director of speech pathology at children's healthcare.) informed me that he did

in fact have a moderate case of Apraxia and he would be in speech for a long

time... He has the classic symptoms.

PS: I will also enroll him in a study about a correlation between mild

craniostenosis and apraxia... apparently they are finding a connection and my

son had that as well..along with other things...

Back to the pre-k, I feel the setting with other normal kids his age has been a

blessing.. he plays very well and listens to the teacher very well. He is a

really good listener, my older son 5 1/2 is having issues listening and

following directions, but he has no speech issues. My oldest went to the same

pre-k for two years prior to Kindergarten and is doing great with learning (top

of his class, the K teachers love the pre-k he went to and say the kids coming

from there learn the best, due to the smaller class size etc) Bottom line some

of the private pre-k schools can offer smaller class size, and better one on one

attention meanwhile interaction with other kids the same age with great

vocabulary. If a child is put into a pre-k where he/she is only able to play

with others with the same disability than how are they ever to learn the correct

way? They learn so much from their friends and siblings, sometimes it's better

than a parent or speech teacher.. Just my opinion..Either way pre-k is a must

for kids with this..